Produced by Jason Elgin
Original Release Date: October 25, 2005
Label as produced: Mono Vs. Stereo

The Confederacy Strikes Back
Back in April 12, 1861 the confederates started the civil war by firing on Fort Sumter. I suppose Robert E. Lee was listening to Maylene and the sons of disaster while sipping on his bottle of whiskey while the cannon shots roared across the sky. On Jan 11th Alabama officially seceded from the union and on Oct 25th, 2005 a band of there’s will secede from a water downed scene of copy cats. This by far is one of the most ambitious releases I’ve heard in awhile and it’s over a year old. I don’t want this band to go as unnoticed as it slipped my eyes and ears apparently. First of all, the lead singer of this band is ex-Underoath front man Dallas Taylor. If that doesn’t get you wet “down there” then I don’t even know you, or want to know you. The band and concept of the album is named after the life and death of Ma Barkers legendary Southern Crime gang of the prohibition era. This band represents a lot of what the south has left behind with a trio of guitarists which layers the sound upon a lot of famous bands in the past known from this genre. No this isn’t some Hawthorne Heights bull*** but I have to admit I have a bias against any band having more than 3 guitarists. I mean I guess it gives a good layer of guitar sounds and some of the best bands had 3 but then again I feel like a lot of the guitar work can also easily be handled by 2. I watched videos and this band definitely feels good towards there southern heritage and I don’t see why they shouldn’t be.

The Album
As soon as this album kicks off you can tell that Dallas Taylor whether you knew him before or not has balls. Yes, I just said balls. Taylor provides a salty rock croon but injects enough harsh screams to keep it vaguely ‘core’. You can reminiscence about the old Underoath days because it’s definitely there but it’s behind a hazy bottle of whiskey this time around. Going in with this project definitely shows a lot of diversity behind a sling shooter of the metal core before and dare me to even say it but I hear shades of Bon Scott. If I haven’t made you orgasm already, I’d definitely check out some songs if you were an AC/DC head in the past. The guitar work is pummeling, relentless at times, and is deep southern fried. These boys are no stranger to squeals and pinched harmonics as they will chugga and dive bomb all over. Yeah so I just described half the scene, oops… but theirs more outside of the box. The usage of solos, and little hooks are all over the place. While taking turns at lead guitar it feels like the lead guitar is always doing something and it isn’t three dudes playing the same thing with no diversity. With the southern styled riffs also comes a very hard metal core edge. They take the best parts of metal core and splashed on some BBQ sauce from there heritage. Or maybe that’s the other way around… I also need to point out that there is slide guitar in “Tough As John Jacobs” which is masterful and catchy in itself. The bass isn’t really here, and in a way that’s fairly disappointing but I’m sure a lot of people aren’t going to mind and I only probably mind because I play bass. The band is definitely focused around it’s guitar setup and vocals. The drums fill a great void in the band aswell with slamming bass blasts and just clashy fills. Overall it fills the void and does the job.

The song constructions stay fresh and really I don’t get tired of any of the songs for the plague of “sounding the same”. Some songs here and there may begin to clash but most of the time you will be able to head bang to different rhythms all the way through. Also shades of Underoath comes in with some songs having a scream ; melody contrast in vocals (I guess when you have 3 guitarists you need some type of a secondary usage). The backup vocals are good when they show themselves and provide some nice hooks in structures such as chorus’s or beginning verses. Other than that it’s obvious it’s the Dallas Taylor show. He doesn’t disappoint.

Song’s like “The Road Home To Panther Creek” do indeed sound more metal core with it’s type of guitar riffing and a lot of the riffs will come out showing itself as being very thrash metal like but usually within the song, it’s slowed down and takes a lot of southern liberties with it. These guys make Jackson guitars through Marshall amplifiers sound like a god sending miracle to ears. The guitar solos that come at various points but usually at an interlude or used as an outro are slick. Most of them are drowned in cry baby wah usage and they really show some talent during these licks. I’m sure there a lot of guitar parts that could make Dimebag proud and I’m sure a lot of them are influenced by his spirit.

Robert E. Lee rode a white horse out
From Ma Barker’s "they can have my gun when they pry it out of my cold, dead fingers" attitude to the biting, string-bending penchant for attitude over precision performance. The slugging-it-out mean riffage of Pantera in their heyday and the "take no prisoners" spittem attack of Glen Danzig at his nastiest... Who knew Dallas Taylor had it in him to perform in a project like this? Wasn’t Underoath a heavily influenced Christian band and now I feel like I’m shooting outlaws with my 6 shooter while drinking down Jack Daniels. I definitely won’t complain. Many bands have sought to claim they are bringing Southern Rock back and I mean we have band’s such as Fight Paris, He Is Legend, (newer) Every time I die, Twelve Gauge Valentine, but I have to admit that this band really smashes them all in a sense of concept and album. Don’t get me wrong that I like all of those bands a significant amount (probably too much) and I do have such a loving for the nu southern rock era but this album just takes the bull by the horns and does it all right. It raises the bar on a debut album, and I seriously can’t wait for the next.

Pros:
+ All around guitar work
+ Vocals
+ Style
+ Lyrics (puts you in the right mind set)

Cons:
- Some people will be turned off by vocals to the genre.
- Where is the bass?
- Lyrics = AC/DC intelligence J

Key Points:
-Finally a band that does “Southern Rock“, with “Southern Rock” roots.
-Dallas Taylor transforms himself into an angry, smokey, version of Bon Scott.
-Sets the bar for the rest of the game

Recommended Tracks:
Caution: Dangerous Curves Ahead
Tough As John Jacobs
Gusty Like The Wind
Lady At The Game

There are some questionable boldings in this review. I'm fairly sure we all know that the lead singer has balls considering he's a guy. It's also not a good thing to say a band sounds like old Underoath.